2009.11.07 01:00 - Silence & Inner Stillness

The Guardian for this meeting was Scathach Rhiadra. The comments are by Scathach Rhiadra.

I was joined by Yakuzza, Bertrum, Trevor, Qt and Gaya......   

Scathach Rhiadra: Hello bertrum, yakuzza!
Yakuzza Lethecus: morning
Bertrum Quan: Hi everyone
Yakuzza Lethecus: hello trevor
Trevor Berensohn: Mornin all =)
Scathach Rhiadra: Hello Trevor
Bertrum Quan: Hi Trevor
Scathach Rhiadra: so how is everyone today?
Qt Core: hi all
Bertrum Quan: Hi Qt
Scathach Rhiadra: Hello Qt
Trevor Berensohn: Hullo QT
Trevor Berensohn: Good here
Scathach Rhiadra: any topic someone would like to discuss?
Trevor Berensohn waves to Gaya
Scathach Rhiadra: Hello Gaya:)
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello everyone :)
Qt Core: hi Gaya
Bertrum Quan: Hi Gaya
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm I don't have a topic
Scathach Rhiadra: well, silence is always good too:)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Trevor Berensohn: It's the bestest part =)
Trevor Berensohn: Wb Bert
Scathach Rhiadra: wb Bertrum:)
Gaya Ethaniel: wb Bertrum
Bertrum Quan: Thanks!

A topic emerges - 'silence' and 'inner stillness' ......

Trevor Berensohn: A friend mentioned silence in conversation today
Gaya Ethaniel listens.
Scathach Rhiadra listens
Trevor Berensohn: She went to a class on centering prayer, and that's what they were paying attention to: the silence
Trevor Berensohn: SO I seem to be hearing a lot about silence today =)
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
--BELL--
Scathach Rhiadra: inner stillness sometimes seems even better than silence
Gaya Ethaniel: Is it possible to appreciate silence without inner stillness?
Trevor Berensohn: Heheh otherwise, silence can seem pretty oppressive
Scathach Rhiadra: mmm, good question, I don't know
Scathach Rhiadra: but you can have inner stillness without silence
Qt Core: don't know, sometimes during silences i hear my brain as if going overdrive with nothing to process
Gaya Ethaniel nods ... and ponders.
Qt Core: like a void foodprocessor at max speed
Trevor Berensohn: Mine does that too, QT... to a steady disco beat
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Trevor Berensohn: I really don't prefer silence, but it does seem useful for helping me get used to inner stillness
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Qt Core: complte silence seem a little innatural to me that is why i love the chirping birds here
Gaya Ethaniel: You think so? When it's silent ... normally I feel something even though no sounds.
Bertrum Quan: I don't think it's possible to experience absolute silence and be alive!
Scathach Rhiadra nods, yes there is always some sound, even if we are not consciously aware of it
Trevor Berensohn: Ha! Sorry, I had to go ask the neighbor to turn their music down
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Bye Trevor :)
Trevor Berensohn: Apparently they wanted to participate in the theme
Gaya Ethaniel giggles.
Qt Core: were they playing sound opf silence ?
Scathach Rhiadra: heh:)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Trevor Berensohn: Hahaha no some Kylie Minogue ditty
--BELL--
Trevor Berensohn: Gaya, when you said you feel something, did you mean emotions,thoughts, ambient noise?
Gaya Ethaniel thinks.
Trevor Berensohn thinks even when trying not to =)
Gaya Ethaniel: Could be emotions ... heart thumping ... thoughts ... various things in general. When it's still inside, it's silence yet not quiet silent ... hard to say :)
Scathach Rhiadra nods
Trevor Berensohn: I do find that as well.. there is always some subtle vibration, noise, emotion
Bertrum Quan: I think the notion of awakening involves all of our senses.
Trevor Berensohn contemplates what Bert said..
Scathach Rhiadra: a present awareness of everything ?
Qt Core: as i don't meditate this may be a silly question but isn't better having a known noise source (let say some music) instead of silence and be distracted by each little noise of uncertain source ?
Gaya Ethaniel: It's fun to investigate little noises of an uncertain source.
Qt Core: some "carpet noise" to cover the distracting ones
Qt Core: yes, i like to do it but it could be distracting too
Gaya Ethaniel nods ... at first :)
Trevor Berensohn chuckles.. even at seconed!
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Qt Core: this come from my study habits when each ditraction was welcomed ;-)
Trevor Berensohn: It seems that different things distract different ppl, come to think of it
Bertrum Quan: In a sense awakening to sound is not a distraction. It is an integral part of awareness
Gaya Ethaniel is curious about this study habit of Qt's.
Trevor Berensohn: Perhaps that's why some ppl use music to help meditate, andothers prefer silence
Trevor Berensohn: Guess there's no "right" way, just what works
Qt Core: just having the radio on so i knew the source of the noise
Qt Core: sorry i have to go
Trevor Berensohn: Good to see you QT
Gaya Ethaniel: Have a good weekend Qt :)
Bertrum Quan: bye Qt
Qt Core: ty all, ciao
Scathach Rhiadra: bye Qt, have a good day:)
Yakuzza Lethecus: bye everyone
Scathach Rhiadra: bye Yakuzza
Trevor Berensohn: Bye Yakuzza
Gaya Ethaniel: Bye Yakuzza :)
Trevor Berensohn: Is it time to go?
Gaya Ethaniel: Almost :)
Trevor Berensohn: Ah
--BELL--
Trevor Berensohn is surprised by the fountain resuming

We finished with some discussion of the session at 1pm SLT yesterday, where we were joined by some guardians from the RL retreat in Princeton......

Gaya Ethaniel: How was the session yesterday with the RL retreat? I couldn't make it.
Scathach Rhiadra: ah, it was interesting
Trevor Berensohn wasn't there either
Bertrum Quan: Scath, can you tell us more about it?
Scathach Rhiadra: a lot of people turned up, and about 6 from the retreat...
Scathach Rhiadra: most of the talk was about the place itself
Scathach Rhiadra: it seems they have had some meetings aout future retreats, so were talking about next year in Germany
Trevor Berensohn: Oh wow
Scathach Rhiadra: mmm, the only practice they talked about was using the basic stop and drop, see what you are for one session
Scathach Rhiadra: they seemed very happy and um, giddy, about it all:)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Trevor Berensohn: Awww that makes me hapy
Bertrum Quan: Was there additional technology involved in the session? Or the same as this?
Trevor Berensohn: technology?
Scathach Rhiadra: same as this, just chat
Scathach Rhiadra: it seems they were all sitting around a large board table with laptops , so for them it was like two sessions going on at the same time
Bertrum Quan: That is interesting!
Trevor Berensohn: Sessions within sessions within...
Scathach Rhiadra nods:)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles.
Scathach Rhiadra: they will log in again today for the 1pm session
Gaya Ethaniel: Not sure I will make it :(
Trevor Berensohn: I'll be at birthday ce3lcebrations
Gaya Ethaniel: Time to go now ... hope you enjoy your day :)
Trevor Berensohn: You too Gaya
Scathach Rhiadra: bye Gaya, have a good weekend:)
Bertrum Quan: Bye Gaya
Trevor Berensohn: ...and then there were three
Scathach Rhiadra: :)
Bertrum Quan: two during the day and one at night!
Scathach Rhiadra nods:)
Trevor Berensohn: Yup
Trevor Berensohn: Hey I didn't know my AV nods
Scathach Rhiadra: ha, you have only noticed now?
Trevor Berensohn: Lol I guess I've been focused on other things til now
Bertrum Quan: Will you both be attending the 1PM session?
--BELL--
Scathach Rhiadra: I hope to
Trevor Berensohn: I most likely can't.. my mom's birthday
Bertrum Quan: Unlikely for me, too...
Bertrum Quan: The logs will convey a sense of it...
Scathach Rhiadra: yes they will:)
Trevor Berensohn: Well, I'd best be off
Trevor Berensohn: So good to see y'all
Scathach Rhiadra: well, time for me to go, have a good night Bertrum, enjoy your Mom's birthday Trevor:)
Bertrum Quan: Bye Trevor
Bertrum Quan: Bye Scath